CW 17 WA — Establishing a Creative Writing Practice
Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Ammi Keller
Date(s): Jun 24—Jul 26
Class Recording Available: Yes
Tuition: $390
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Refund Deadline: Jun 27
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 125
Status: Registration opens May 20, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Summer
Unit(s): 1
Duration: 5 weeks
Date(s): Jun 24—Jul 26
Tuition: $390
Refund Deadline: Jun 27
Instructor(s): Ammi Keller
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 125
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens May 20, 8:30 am (PT)
The benefits of creativity are enormous. Engaging in creative activity lightens our hearts, sharpens our senses, and helps us make peace with our experiences. But all too often we don’t prioritize creative activity, either because we have internalized messages that we aren’t good enough or because life’s demands have gotten in the way. The good news is that it is easy to build a creative habit; creative writing requires no special equipment and can be done almost anytime, anywhere, by anyone, and throughout your life. This course will combine daily writing prompts with inspiring information about why and how to make creativity a part of your solitary time, your family life, and your work life. You will be encouraged to try fiction, nonfiction, and poetry and will get to play with craft in each genre. On the process side, you will learn about growth mindsets, embracing mistakes, and the reasons neuroscience urges us to give up perfectionism. You will leave the course with a portfolio of fresh pieces of writing and a plan for expanding at least one of them into a completed work, as well as the skills, techniques, and habits of mind needed to maintain a regular creative writing practice.
This is a large-format course designed to be used flexibly by students who have varying amounts of time to devote to it. The course will include a live, one-hour videoconferencing session each week that includes creative exercises. Because of the high enrollment capacity, students will not receive instructor feedback on daily writing posts.
Section WA and Section WB of "Establishing a Creative Writing Practice" have the same objective—to foster a daily practice—but use different prompts and creativity-related links. Students may register for Section WA or Section WB, or for both.
AMMI KELLER
Novel Writing Certificate Instructor, Stanford Continuing Studies; Former Stegner Fellow, Stanford
Ammi Keller’s teaching focuses on the intersection of mindfulness and creative writing. Her short stories appear in American Short Fiction, The Common, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and elsewhere. She has edited fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for Soft Skull Press and has received residencies from the Lambda Literary Writer's Retreat and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.